Chinese football was thrown into disarray on Sunday as the owners of reigning Chinese Super League champions Jiangsu FC announced the club would cease operations with immediate effect.
A post on Jiangsu's official WeChat account expressed hope of new backers or that a "company of insight" would be willing to consult on the team's future.
The announcement said all football clubs owned by the Suning Group, including the hugely successful Jiangsu Suning Women, would "cease operations from today."
The Nanjing-based retailer, one of China's biggest and which also owns Italian Serie A club Inter Milan, said earlier in February that it intended to focus on core businesses, leaving non-retail assets at risk.